You're in Utah for All-Star Weekend and you're wondering, did anything happen here, NBA-wise, before Michael Jordan made his comments about it being hard to putt on greens covered with 100 inches of snow? Does the NBA have a past in the Wasatch Front? If the mountains could talk basketball, what would they say?
To answer that, here is a guide to the area's NBA historical highlights. A lore tour. Walk out of your hotel and get schooled.1. The Jordan High School gym in the south Salt Lake suburb of Sandy. It was here, at the home of the Beetdiggers, that John Richard "Dick" Motta tried out for the Jordan varsity on a sprained ankle in 1948 and because of that, and because he was 5-foot-7, he got cut. Thus was one of the NBA's most prolific coaching careers launched. During a 22-season NBA career that ended last season, Motta was named Coach of the Year, captured the NBA title and won 856 games, the third highest total in league history. He never forgot where he came from, or how his playing career got cut down in its prime. "In 22 years I probably kept 22 players I shouldn't have," he once said. Motta was never cut from basketball again, at least not until he got to Sacramento.
2. The northwest corner of the Salt Palace arena in downtown Salt Lake, visiting team locker room, third locker from the wall. It was here that Magic Johnson fired Paul Westhead as the Lakers' head coach 11 games into the 1981-82 season. The Lakers beat the Jazz that night, 113-110. Magic said he was happy with the win, but he wasn't happy with the Lakers offense. The next day, Westhead was relieved of his duties.
3. The Sunnyside Run at the Park City Ski Area. To get there, take the PayDay Lift, the Crescent Lift and the Prospector Lift. About halfway down the main Prospector Trail turn left onto Sunnyside, marked by the "More Difficult" signs. It was here that David J. Stern, not long after he was appointed NBA commissioner in 1984, demonstrated the slickest way to negotiate "Sunnyside" by unweighting completely off his skis and sliding the length of the run on the surface of his nylon ski-suit. Heads turned and watched from all directions as Stern's slide - a foreshadowing of his hands-on commissionership style - went on for much of the weekend. Looking up at the ski patrol when he finally came to a stop, the commissioner said, "I'll bet Pete Rozelle wouldn't do that?"
4. The Larry H. Miller Toyota dealership in the Salt Lake suburb of Murray. It was here, in 1979, that Miller, on a hunch and a 99 percent mortgage, bought what was then the Toyota of Murray dealership. At the time Miller was working in the parts department for a car dealer in Colorado and was back home in Utah only for a weekend visit. He had a feeling Toyotas might be the wave of the future and, when he heard Toyota of Murray was for sale, decided to take a chance. Now Miller owns most of Murray, dozens of dealerships in three Western states, whole closets full of golf shirts - and the NBA's Utah Jazz, a franchise he also bought used.
5. The 12th floor of the Marriott Hotel in downtown Salt Lake. Also known as the Portland Trail Blazers' home away from home. To gain entry use the password: "I'm 18 . . . Don't I look 18?"
6. The Marriott Center at BYU in Provo. It was here that Danny Ainge learned to twist his face into the perpetual look of bewilderment that has become an NBA trademark. It is a look acquired by BYU freshmen when they discover they have enrolled at a school where they're told they can't drink Coca-Cola on campus.
7. The corner of 200 South and 200 West in Salt Lake City. It was here that Moses Malone, a 19-year-old rookie in 1975, learned that the team he played for, the Utah Stars of the American Basketball Association, had just gone out of business. Not knowing what the future might hold, Malone loaded the Stars' game jerseys and warmups into a shopping cart and took them to the trunk of his Cadillac. Little did he know he'd be playing for seven more franchises in a 19-year career that still isn't over and he wouldn't need the shirts.
8. The Huntsman Center on the University of Utah campus. It was here, in the NCAA championship game of 1979, that Larry Bird and Magic Johnson first played on the same basketball court. Times were different then. The Huntsman Center was the Special Events Center; the players wore long socks and short shorts instead of vice versa; Los Angeles and Boston, let alone Europe, barely knew who Bird and Magic were; and not one person in the largest television audience to ever watch a basketball game - before or since - could so much as spell HIV.
9. The Delta Center. It is here that Utah's NBA present and future catches up with its past. A little over two years ago, the Delta Center set a world record in arena-building after Miller learned that the interest on his construction loan worked out to roughly one Toyota every seven seconds. Now, this weekend, the Delta Center serves as the NBA's Medinah as the league makes its annual midseason pilgrimage to pay tribute to its brightest stars.
A lot of people in Utah are still disbelieving at what has come to an arena that, three years ago, was a vacant lot; and to a city that, 14 years ago, had virtually no NBA roots. They didn't know you could get here from there.
Although Dick Motta isn't one of them.